Rotary brushes now commonly on the market and in use consist of a drum which carries bristle strips on its periphery. The strips are mounted in various ways on the drum and are usually removable so that they can be replaced after wear. It is important that the strip be of such a nature that it can be produced with simple tooling and at a low cost of time and material.
A present method of making a rotary sweeper includes forming a strip for sliding into a track secured on the drum periphery by double-joining, back-forming, etc. to provide an outwardly-opening, bristle-receiving channel with laterally-extending lower flanges adapted to slip in the laterally-extending grooves of the drum-mounted tracks. This method requires expensive tooling and produces a weak retaining arrangement that results in a leverage problem during rotation of the drum tending to cause the flanges of the outwardly-opening bristle-receiving channel to spring apart and thereby release the bristles.
This invention provides a thermoplastic strip which can slip into any guide track that provides laterally-opposed receiving guide grooves which extend longitudinally of the track. Thermoplastic guide strips are known but, the bristles of the known strips are secured in the trough of the supporting strip as strands welded or secured in place by plastic melt, not as a U-shaped bristle strip with a central wire or cord holding the bristles in place.
The present invention further provides a strip brush for mounting on a rotary drum which is of simple construction and can be removably slipped into tracks of the type now conventionally provided on rotary drums. This bristle strip can be produced without high-cost materials, expensive tooling or time-consuming operations. This results in a low-cost strip. It can be inserted readily into the drum track, will be effectively retained therein and can be removed with ease when it is necessary to replace it. The bristle strip is lighter weight, easier to install and remove as compared to prior art strips and is less costly to produce.